Gourmet shop offers coffee and ambiance

Common Ground is light and airy with a welcoming feeling that makes dropping in for coffee a must.

The new gourmet coffee shop in Copps Hill Common by The Ironwood Gallery is the province of owners Guy and

Jenny Bocchino
. It opened its door the day after Thanksgiving.
"We opened quietly," Guy Bocchino said. "We wanted to get it right, easing into it and seeing how things worked out. We didn't want people coming in and having a bad experience."
The Bocchinos are new to the world of shop ownership but not to the world of coffee. Gourmet coffee drinkers themselves when they decided it was time for a career change, they thought of the beverage that is their passion.
"A restaurant seemed too daunting," Bocchino said. "The idea of a coffee shop where people can go and relax, drop in with a friend appealed to us."
Coffee at the Common Ground is anything but common. Assuring that the dark roasts and espresso they offer have a full coffee flavor without a burnt taste was paramount, as was assuring that the light roast is milder but still has a good body.
The Bocchinos went to coffee tasting at coffee roasters throughout the Northeast and brought in "people who knew their coffee" to go with them. They finally found a roaster in Rhode Island that offered what they were looking for.
"Coffee has become like wine with different regions in different countries offering a variety of beans of varying qualities," Bocchino said.
Pastries offered at Common Ground are made on the premises fresh each morning as are the sandwiches. There's a sandwich for every taste from the Middle Eastern wrap of hummus, carrot salad, cucumbers and tomato to the olive tapenade sandwich with olive tapenade, roasted peppers, and arugula.
Soups are made every day by Susie Caffuzzi, who began her cooking career in the mid-1980s, working at that very location when the

Ridgefield General Store
filled the space. A different selection of soups is offered every day.
So are gourmet teas from Harney & Sons Master Tea Blenders of Salisbury.
"We are trying to make everything unique and a little healthier," Bocchino said.
Guy Bocchino's previous career was in human resources. His most recent position was in the international compensation
department of Cendant Mobility
.
"I was having a recurring nightmare of being trapped in a four-sided cubicle, which was when I began realizing I may be thinking about doing something else," he said.
"We were lucky throughout the entire process (of opening Common Ground)," Jenny Bocchino said. "Though we did make a lot of changes, the space itself was already so pretty with the leaded glass and subway tile. The location itself is great and in warmer weather, we can have outdoor seating on the porch."
The Bocchinos also had support from local restaurant owners and their landlord,

Steve Zemo
, who was "supportive and helpful - a great friend through the entire process," Jenny Bocchino said.
Jenny Bocchino is currently national forecasting manager for the international brewer
Inbev USA
in Norwalk. She will keep that job and work at Common Ground on weekends.
The Bocchinos have shown a lot of pluck, opening a coffee shop directly across the street from Starbucks. But they feel they have something Starbucks doesn't have to offer - small business ownership and the dedication to customer satisfaction that means.
"We want to be a gathering place for folks," Guy Bocchino said. "We have a different ambiance from Starbucks, which is part of a national chain that has to do what every other Starbuck's does. If something we offer isn't just what our customers want, we'll change it. And we have a lot of high quality food choices here that other coffee shops don't offer."
Bocchino acknowledged that a Starbucks has its good points if you're traveling around the country and want to be assured a familiar cup of coffee. But a shop like Common Ground offers small town ambiance.
The Bocchinos have lived in Ridgefield for over 10 years, having moved there from Greenwich. They have actively supported local open space preservation, environmental causes, animal welfare organizations and sat on town committees.
"This is a natural extension of our community involvement," Bocchino said. "It's tying us into the community more without having to run for office. I've always like the residents of Ridgefield and this way I can enjoy meeting them when they come in.

Common Ground, in Copps Hill Common, is open Monday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information or directions, call (203) 431-4433.